Winter Sparrows at Little Piney
The winter sparrows are back at Little Piney. Some of them are plentiful and easy to spot, while others are shy and more elusive. Here are ten sparrows that have found their way to Little Piney and posed for the camera. I’m still on the lookout for the other eight commonly found in Bastrop County.
Fox Sparrow
The Fox Sparrow is a shy one. Saturday, I was thrilled to see my first Fox Sparrow perched low in a small tree by the creek bank. The Fox Sparrow is distinguished by bold, reddish, broken stripes on an snow-white breast with more of the same red on his gray head and back.
Song Sparrow
Song Sparrows are predictable in the rushes and low bushes by the creek. Their squeaky “peep” call alerts me know that they are back for the winter. The thick, dark malar stripes (the triangles on either side of the white throat) are the most distinguishing mark.
Lincoln’s Sparrow
The Lincoln’s Sparrow is similar to the Song Sparrow but has a more delicate malar stripe, and a buffy color behind finer breast streaks.
Vesper Sparrow
The Vesper also has a striped breast, but is generally paler in color. Look for the gray cheek patch to identify the Vesper Sparrow.
Savannah Sparrow
The Savannah Sparrow has a wide creamy eyebrow with a yellow patch and long pink toes.
White-throated Sparrow
I hear the sweet whistle of the White-throated Sparrow dailly. Note the white throat and white eyebrow with yellow spots.
White-crowned Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrows are less frequent visitors. They have a smaller white patch on the throat than the White-throated Sparrow.
Harris’s Sparrow
Harris’s Sparrows are large sparrows. They have distinctive, variable, black markings on their chins and breast that make me think of beards.
Chipping Sparrows
You know it’s a Chipping Sparrow when the dark eye line extends on both sides of the eye. This is our most common sparrow at Little Piney.
Field Sparrow
A plain, wide-eyed looking bird, Field Sparrows have a white eye ring and pink bill.
Learn More About the Sparrows of Central Texas
Sparrows are not the easiest birds to learn to identify. Most of there brown!
Here are some good resources if you would like to know more about local sparrows:
- A guidebook available on Amazon: Sparrows of the United States and Canada by David Beadle
- A photo gallery by local sparrow expert “Dr. Birdie” Sparrowman’s “Sparrows of Central Texas”
- A guide to identifying four common sparrows: Birdzilla.com. Frequent Four
Very nice descriptions and excellent photos of an interesting family of birds. Down here in South Florida we have no resident sparrows and my neighborhood has been visited by only a few– most lately the White-crowned, and before that Savannah, Grasshopper, Lincoln’s and Clay-colored. Need to get back up to Illinois for my sparrow fix, but no until it warms up considerably!
Thank you for visiting Lost Pines Life and “Winter Sparrows.” I’m happy to hear from you! I also really enjoyed seeing the beautiful photos on your website.
What a great array of winter sparrows. I’ve been working on sparrow IDs for some time, so I appreciate your post.
Apart from the sparrows, I read an enjoy each edition of LPL. Keep it up!
Hi Bobby, I’m so glad to know you enjoyed the post. Sparrows are tricky for me, too. It was helpful to me to write the post. I’m also glad to know that you are a regular reader. Thanks for the encouragement!